Juneau Olympics

Juneau Olympics

We’re running our own Olympics here in Juneau. Since two days after Christmas we have gone from downhill ski runs to ice rinks in our very own yards.

The downhill ski runs have been spectacular as over four feet of snow fell in less than a week, covering roofs, yards, streets, sheds, dog houses, cars, heavy equipment, and anything else left laying around. If you were so inclined you could start at the peak of what used to be your roof, continue down the slope, take a slight jump to the top of your car which used to be parked in your driveway, and continue down your yard or driveway to where the street used to be. If you live on a hill you might be able to go all the way to the water. You would have to be careful if the tide was recently out to miss the rocks on the beach.

As reality set in you were probably more likely to enter the weight lifting event. It is amazing how much a shovel full of snow weighs, especially as it becomes water logged from rain. There were days, weeks, months, or maybe it was years, of shoveling walkways, driveways, cars, trucks and roofs. Yes, roofs, which has become a very popular event as people try to keep shelter over their heads and not in their living rooms.

Mountain climbing became another event that almost everyone who was able to venture outside was forced to enter as they clamored over massive piles of snow left by roof shovelers or plows. The endless mountain tops of berms created by the city or state attempting to keep roads clear were an especially difficult challenge. People quickly were entered in the weight lifting event as they attempted to keep ahead of the plows in an impossible dance of mountain climbing, weight lifting, and Olympic swearing events.

If you were lucky enough or clever enough to actually get your car out of your driveway and on what used to pass as a road, you might find yourself entered in the open store event. As you drive around with your kids, who have been out of school for going on three weeks and possibly trapped inside the house because it is too dangerous to go outside where they might fall into a snow drift literally over their heads, or be hit with falling snow from snow shovelers or trees releasing their loads; you are forced to drive from store to store trying to find one that is not closed due to excessive snow loads on their roofs.

Just as we were beginning to get a handle on the Juneau Winter Olympics, the Juneau Summer Olympics began, thanks to warming temperatures and one of those infamous atmospheric rivers that have been creating havoc everywhere. This is a whole other kettle of fish. There are many exciting events in this adventure.

The driveway luge event is entered by anyone with a driveway, but is especially exciting for those lucky enough to have had their driveway plowed down to the final few inches of snow. If your driveway has any slope at all, no matter how slight, you are off to the races, in some cases quite literally as your feet slip out from under you and you become the luge without a luge hoping like mad you can stop before sliding out into the road. It seems that the quick warm up and new atmospheric river have combined to turn driveways into world class luge tracks all over town.

For the same reason, parking lot ice skating is a popular event with people doing tricks even the professionals haven’t dreamed up, as they try to keep their feet under them and not over their heads.

In some places you can enter the kayak road races, as clogged storm drains have turned the streets into rivers. If calmer kayak experiences are your thing you can float on the many lakes that have developed everywhere for the same reason.

If, like me, you are too old or out of shape, sick, or whatever, you might be forced into the worry event or the feeling guilty event. In these events you are forced to stay inside and watch as people risk their lives and limbs to help you. Not only do you not have the physical stamina to take part in the other events, you know that breaking a hip or having a heart attack would not be particularly helpful to your family or first responders. So you do what you can inside to help the effort and watch as the snow piles up or the rains fall and things like decks give up the struggle and collapse.

Of course, all this is an attempt to see the humor in what has very little humor in it. This is a disastrous event on many levels and unlike other disastrous events Juneau has faced, has serious physical and emotional repercussions for every single person in the town. It has really brought new meaning to “We’re all in this together.”

It isn’t every town where the city would take action to move the warming shelter for the homeless out of the path of possible avalanches into an elementary school because the school’s roof has been shoveled and other possibly more appropriate buildings still have snow loads that are not safe. The schools are currently closed as roofs are shoveled and roads are made passable.

Special crews and equipment have been flown in to help clear public buildings. The hospital has fifty or more workers shoveling the roof today, even as critical care is being provided inside. Massive stores like Home Depot and Fred Meyer brought in crews. Home Depot is open but Fred Meyer along with one of the malls housing big stores like Petco and Office Max is still closed. Many small businesses have had to temporarily close their doors as roof loads become more dangerous, avalanches threaten, and roads have been impassable.

During it all hundreds of people have been going without sleep spending impossibly long hours clearing roads, keeping electricity flowing, clearing driveways, roofs, storm drains, and fire hydrants while trying to keep up with their own residences or businesses. The working consortium formed during the summer glacier outburst floods continues to coordinate services and inform the public. Our two not for profit media sources KTOO and the Juneau Independent have done an outstanding job keeping the public informed.

Juneau will survive; local Olympic events notwithstanding.